Need Some Emotional Support

[SniggitSnob]

Hello everyone. I read these forums all the time. I'm 26, have been gluten free nearly 2 years. My brother died of a drug overdose almost 4 years ago and it was two years after that i finally caught on that i was sick. I had attributed all my symptoms to grief and stress. Now, I am 10 weeks pregnant and miserable, more miserable than any gluten experience i've ever had. I guess i'm really just writing because of my circumstances. I moved from california to georgia 8 months ago, left all my friends and family behind. I married a wonderful man who is as helpful as possible, but the women in his family are very busy or ill and cannot be of much assistance. My mother and I do not have much of a relationship due to her abuse of prescription pills, my brother was my only sibling, so I am trying to deal with this mostly on my own.

Having said that, my pregnancy thus far has been quite a struggle. I must have been 5 weeks, didn't know it, when i went to the doctor after three days of horrible diarrhea, joint pain, muscle aches. They told me I was pregnant, and did an ultrasound to make sure everything was fine. Soon after that the nausea started, morning to night, without any vomiting, despite attempts to MAKE myself throw up. I work in a restaurant full of gluten as a server, and while i avoid the food, the heightened sense of smell has made the last month of my life nothing but minute to minute of nauseated horror. In the back there's no escape from all the raw food prep - and in the front no escape from the cooking food. Onions, garlic, oregano, fish sauce, eggs - all day long.

I've done my best to eat what i can. Glutino pretzels in bed in the morning, brown rice bread with peanut butter, gorilla munch to snack on at work. Sometimes i can eat some cheese and other times i can't. But now the nausea has turned into vomiting. What i could eat one day i can't keep down the next. I can't stand the smell of anything being cooked in our tiny apartment. the ONLY thing i have managed not to throw up in the last two weeks are potatoes. The sickness is terrible at night, and some days i just skip my prenatals because i can't stand to put one more thing in my mouth and i don't know whether to take them at night or in the morning. I threw up gluten free oats, jello, water, juice, yogurt, mesa sunrise cereal, gluten-free mac and cheese, gluten-free chocolate cake. Today i finally called out of work, could hear the frustration in my manager's voice (i'm one of their most dependable employees) and i just feel scared and worried. All my friends are 3,000 miles away and my husband has got to try and find some work so he is gone trying to make money since my work performance has decreased and my tips have suffered.

If any of you have some motherly love or advice to extend, i would appreciate it. I'm exhausted, depressed, and stressed. I cry myself to sleep every night, have puked 3 times this morning (water) and...frankly i just don't know what to do.

[pricklypear1971]

Hey there....

First, congratulations on Tge baby. I know right now you feel like spanking him/her but this will improve.

Have you tried ginger? Ginger tea, pickled sushi ginger, ginger candies? Not a lot - just a bit.

Peppermint helps me - peppermint tea, especially.

Have you tried Sea Bands? The stretchy pressure bracelets to help with motion sickness? It helped me.

If potatoes work, eat them. Get that prenatal vitamin down. Have you tried apples? I ate 3 a day early on - it was my magical anti-nausea food.

Work can be tough, even more so if you are around gluten. Were you ill from it before the pregnancy?

My severe nausea was the first trimester...after that it mostly disappeared.

All said - of your nausea is increasing and you are vomiting frequently, and feeling worse you need to give your doctor a call. Stress will make everything worse - and I won't tell you to stop worrying, but I will tell you to find a way to manage it - whatever works. Warm bath, a walk outside (or just sit), music, a nap, a good book...

Best of luck to you, and I hope you feel better soon.

[Bubba's Mom]

You poor baby! Having nausea and being around so much food is miserable. The fact that some of it has gluten makes it even worse.

Ask your Dr. if there's anything you can take? Tums shouldn't hurt the baby..or ginger?

I didn't have nausea with either of my pregnancies, so I'm not a lot of help there. Most people seem to get past it after the first trimester.

Good luck..and (((hugs))

[SniggitSnob]

Ladies thank you so much for responding, it brought tears to my eyes just to hear that people who have our condition are there. I have been wearing the sea bands for two weeks, tried ginger root supplements and ginger chews for about two weeks but gave up on them because i hate ginger. I will try them again and see if they help the vomiting. Peppermint tea has been a staple in my pantry since I read about it here two years ago as a soothing agent for accidental gluten CC.

I really hate ginger but i will try it again. Since i wrote that last entry i threw up three more times, lol. Now it's just making me laugh. If i've learned anything in life is you gotta find the humour somewhere.

And thank you for the congrats. I love to read; will definitely keep doing that cause it helps with stress tremendously.

So you think i should call the doctor?

[kareng]

Lemons helped me. Get some lemon drops, I think they should be gluten-free. Its really the smell of lemon that helps the morning sickness in some people. Low blood sugar makes the nausea worse. the nausea makes your blood sugar low! ACk!

For me fruity stuff worked better than some things. fruit smoothies, fruit, candy.

Like Prickly said, you might need to see the doc becasue you will be dehyrated.

[SniggitSnob]

Oh yeah. Apples and i don't get along. They always upset my stomach after i went gluten free. NO idea why...ate one yesterday, threw that up.

[SniggitSnob]

And as far as i can tell, sometimes i wondered if being around the gluten bothered me or if it was all in my head. I worked at the same restaurant in california and it wasn't until transferring to georgia that i felt a little sicker. I did have a liver issue come up, but that was probably because i was drinking my husband's delicious home made pear cider while we dated. I stopped drinking altogether, cause that was the second time my liver acted up in the last year.

Never had a drinking problem before the gluten tho. Could drink you under the table.